Playwriting
photo by Emma Browne
Ken Yoshikawa is a new voice in playwriting working on short and long plays. He's fascinated with stories that crucially contrast some form of kindness and gentleness to bridge the brutal alienation of a capitalist world. So in kindness - either cringey cartoon kindness or that beautiful darker hue of kindness that comes from total acceptance - he finds the good stuff like it’s dished out from a dumpster-diver’s knapsack. In the same breathe he's also fascinated in exploring violence as a language and not as a morally black-white phenomenon, keeping in mind power-structures and the dynamics of oppression nationally and globally.
In 2019 he performed his solo show The Art of Flyswatting in Portland and at the Pan Asian Repertory’s NuWorks festival off-broadway. He wrote and co-produced Lights Go, a one act in mourning of the sudden end of the production of The Journal of Ben Uchida at the Oregon Children’s Theatre due to the pandemic. Recently he completed an advanced draft of a five-act play in verse following Antonio from Twelfth Night. Samples available below.
Play Samples
Lights Go
Lights Go was written during Covid19 lock-down, in mourning of the lapsed production of The Journal of Ben Uchida at the Oregon Children’s Theatre, in which I played the title role.
A local actor asks his stage manager friend access to a stage so he can share a special performance for his covid-positive boyfriend over zoom. She secrets him into the abandoned theatre, the set of the production still onstage, ghost light looming. Little do they know they are not alone in the space. 4W 6M
The Art of Flyswatting
The Art of Fly Swatting stages a young Japanese-American’s journey through defining early ruptures: the dissolution of his parents' marriage and the development of an abusive relationship with a mentor. In its exploration of loss and self discovery, The Art of Fly Swatting weaves together themes such as names, memory, grief, family, and spirituality, while investigating subjects including calligraphy, Dungeons and Dragons, hypnotism, airplanes, and neck ties. Throughout, the performance focuses on the power of truth and poetry as a means of reclaiming a self that was once lost.
1M, runtime 45 min
Through Bonavia, or The Simple Truth
A five-act verse play inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. A spinoff involving the previous adventures of Antonio, before plucking shipwrecked Sebastian from the sea. An epic tale set in his homeland, Bonavia. Wrecked by Illyrian imperialism, and a tenuous peace, the old king dead, a new king rises unready. The princess, Ethelia, must keep her homeland together as it rips at the seams by greed, uprising, and family trauma.
Other Short Plays
Honey
An engineer tries to bring his beloved android to life to save the planet.
5 actors any gender
A Miracle of Birds
In a crane-folding workshop, a crew scrambles to fold a miracle of birds.
4 actors any gender
Contact Ken for booking/production inquiries at yoshikawken11@gmail.com